Phase Shift by Kelly Jensen & Jenn Burke

Author:Kelly Jensen & Jenn Burke
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2016-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Felix leaned out over the edge of the shallow crater and looked down. “This one isn’t deep at all.”

Zed spoke from a short distance behind him. “How does the floor look? Any of those fissures?”

They’d been halfway down the side of another crater when a tentacle had poked up out of a fissure near the bottom. Felix had taken skin off his human hand climbing back up again. If not for the reinforced smart fiber over the knees of his pants, he’d have taken skin off there, too, as Zed hauled him up the last meter and back onto the plateau.

“You could come look for yourself.” Glancing over his shoulder, Felix waggled his brows at Zed. “It’s not deep.”

Zed held up a hand. “That’s what you said about the last one, asshole.”

Chuckling, Felix stepped back from the edge of the crater and wandered back toward Zed. “I dunno how deep is deep for you, or high, or whatever, but I reckon we could drop to the floor of this one without having to climb down.”

The furrows across Zed’s brow relaxed. “Okay, that’s not that deep.” He tensed up again. “Unless you’re jerking me around.”

“I’m too fucking tired, and checking this one out can’t be any worse than having to lean over the edge of that other one to pull me away from the scragglers.”

Zed offered a tired smile. “Your life isn’t at risk this time.”

Felix gazed out across the rock-strewn ground. This side of the ravine felt less like a mountain and more like an elevated desert of...rock. Stone and rock. Gravel in shallow depressions and dust over everything. The ground did slope down on occasion, but only toward another expanse of stone. Except for the bugs, they’d seen no wildlife, just as on the other side. Felix wasn’t surprised. The deep ravine was a much more hospitable place, scragglers and mad scientists aside. Some of the craters on this side were deep enough to host a pool of water, a single stubby tree and the telltale fissures, though.

They hadn’t seen signs any of the other craters were connected to the system of caves beneath the cliffs, or were being used by Preston and her people. Neither had they seen the patrol that had left from the opposite side of the landing crater. With the low clouds and charged atmosphere, Felix guessed any search parties would be confined to hoofing it, just as they were. So the mission had become to find a suitable place in which to hole up for a while.

Felix put his arm around Zed’s shoulders and drew him close so they could rest their foreheads together. The connection hummed into being. “The crater looks good. Not too deep, a puddle on one side and no visible fissures.” He let the truth of his words and an accompanying image filter across.

Sighing, Zed leaned into him. “I don’t know why I let this height thing get to me.”

“Because we’re at the end of our tether. I nearly freaked out in the caves.

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